HCA: Hermit Crab Association

aussieJJDude wrote:I know I know. Every time I'm just about to snap some photos, something always comes up. Whether its uni, work or family... :/


I'll really try to do it tomorrow after work!

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A wise puppet once said, "do or do not, there is no try."

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ROSIEonFIRE wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:04 am

A wise puppet once said, "do or do not, there is no try."

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Here you go. Some pics before work.

Full tank shots:


As you can see, plants arent doing too well. Most of my broms died a few months back as at the time I didnt have my humidifier set up, and was watering by hand. Unfortunately, I forgot to water them for a couple of weeks, and most didnt respond well to that and died. The few that did lucky enough to being rooting into the background and somewhat survived... plan to get more plants in general and do a replant sometime in the near future.

Marine pool (MHC is at the front, with the shell covered in diatom (brown algae....)




One of my hermies (that wasnt hiding in the cave, which is their favourite spot.


Bonus pic of my mudskipper (in another tank) since he was being photogenic... aka wanted food)



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It looks like your background is holding up very well. One of those is still on my attempt to do list along with 50 other things! I still love the way this crabitat looks. Much more appealing to the eye than a tank with a piece of netting stuck to the back! I'm sure your crabs are loving it!

aussieJJDude wrote:Here you go. Some pics before work.

Full tank shots:


As you can see, plants arent doing too well. Most of my broms died a few months back as at the time I didnt have my humidifier set up, and was watering by hand. Unfortunately, I forgot to water them for a couple of weeks, and most didnt respond well to that and died. The few that did lucky enough to being rooting into the background and somewhat survived... plan to get more plants in general and do a replant sometime in the near future.

Marine pool (MHC is at the front, with the shell covered in diatom (brown algae....)




One of my hermies (that wasnt hiding in the cave, which is their favourite spot.


Bonus pic of my mudskipper (in another tank) since he was being photogenic... aka wanted food)



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Wow! It looks amazing!! The plants look great. Have you had to replace any of them since you set the tank up? Also LOVE your marine setup! That mudskipper is so cute!

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Motörcrab wrote:It looks like your background is holding up very well. One of those is still on my attempt to do list along with 50 other things! I still love the way this crabitat looks. Much more appealing to the eye than a tank with a piece of netting stuck to the back! I'm sure your crabs are loving it!

Yeah. It is - thankfully. Was thinking it would - did the last time I did similar - but this was a first. Only in two places has the concrete come off. Which was both my fault. One in the marine pool area, which I broke off by dropping some rock on there with my waterchange, and another just due to a 'thin' patch of concrete that flaked off.

But I do agree, I like the naturalist vibe it has. Hope one day to upgrade to something larger and do this all over again! I've learnt the crabs loves the hides climb tunnel, so I'd definitely would of made more throughout the background and they also enjoy the top ledge, hiding in the plants and my EE pit (so would like to have numerous pits they could dig in, and for plants to root around in)

ROSIEonFIRE wrote:Wow! It looks amazing!! The plants look great. Have you had to replace any of them since you set the tank up? Also LOVE your marine setup! That mudskipper is so cute!

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Thank you.

Some of the plants look great, a few others not so much. But I have an endless supply of a few terrarium plants, so I have no problem breaking off a stem, planting it and seeing whether it grows or I just simply replace it with another cutting.

And yeah, besides that, have replaced by adding some tillandsia that I purchased recently and also plan on adding a ficus benjamina 'variegata' that I have sitting on my desk. Oh and a couple of prayer plants that I have also sitting outside. But I do plan on doing another bromeliad haul as well as getting some more 'terrarium' plants from my hardware store. Particularly vining plants.

Yeah, the marine setup is pretty bland. Most of my algae has gone, so I need to get some more and fill it up again. And I think my hermit crab has eaten all my bristleworms, as I havent seen any in ages... so I may ask some local stores if they have any hitchhikers (or snails really, diatoms are getting ridiculous) to spare.




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So when I do my new tat I'm thinking it would be sweet to have a couple live plants in there. Is bamboo safe?

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ROSIEonFIRE wrote:So when I do my new tat I'm thinking it would be sweet to have a couple live plants in there. Is bamboo safe?

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Bamboo is safe, but it tends to grow too tall. Dwarf varieties are available, so consider trying to locate one of those which are likely to be more manageable - that's if the crabs dont kill it first....


And of course, dont confuse bamboo (bambusoideae subfamily) with lucky bamboo (dracaena sp.). Dracaena is considered to be toxic to crabs.



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(No offical testing of dracaena being poisonous has been done with crabs, but it's still worth mentioning. It contains steriod saponins.... Whether its is actually deadly to our crabbies is unknown. Saponins is a rather common class of molecule found in plants, and very common in foods - legumes, seeds and potatos/tomatoes.

The issue comes is that for many animals, like cats and dogs, dracaena is highly poisonous.... and steroidal saponins is commonly used as a natural insecticide - hence why plants have it in the first place! ^_^ )

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I feel like finding a couple of sticks of real bamboo is going to be super hard. I know it grows fast but I think it will be ok to just shear it back every now and then, bamboo is super hardy (or so I've heard!)

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ROSIEonFIRE wrote:I feel like finding a couple of sticks of real bamboo is going to be super hard. I know it grows fast but I think it will be ok to just shear it back every now and then, bamboo is super hardy (or so I've heard!)

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Honestly, you'll probably just be better off to use normal bamboo. Crabs will have fun destroying it! Haha


The good thing is that the dwarf bamboo make good indoor plants in a sunny location. So if you dont have a large outdoor garden, it could always function as an indoor plant that you use as a farm for your crabitat?

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